“I Saw The LORD”

Excitement and Sadness: A Time for Biblical Principles

0:00 For us as a church fellowship here at Trinity, these are very exciting and yet very sad days. Most of us are fully aware by now that next Lord's Day, if God spares us all to come to another Lord's Day, will be the last Lord's Day that Pastor and Mrs. Blaze will be among us for some time to come. And so we are excited in the proper sense that the head of the church has been pleased to lay his hand upon another member of this fellowship and to set that one apart for the work to which God has called him. And when we have prayed, as we often do, that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers, when we've asked King Jesus to extend the scepter of his gracious mediatorial reign, why we cannot help but be excited and filled with holy anticipation when we see tangible indications that the Lord has heard and is answering such prayers. And yet they are nonetheless days of sadness, because the affections, the mutual appreciation,

1:21 the sense of identity in worship and the work of God is such that when it must be severed, there is pain. And that pain is real. We ought not to be ashamed of it. We ought not to bury it out of sight, for the scripture records in that most touching passage in Acts chapter 20, the incident of the Apostle Paul's leaving the elders at Ephesus.

1:45 And we read from Luke the historian that they fell upon his neck and they wept sore, sorrowing that they should see his face no more. And it is possible to have a heart that, at the same time, is both excited, filled with joy, and also sad, and eyes filled with tears. Some of us can remember when we first began to find out one of the ways in which women were made a little different from us men. When we found our wives crying, we said, what's the matter? What did we do? I'm so happy.

2:21 And their joy was mingled and expressed with their tears. So all of us who have been married for a little while understand that it's perfectly possible to have grief, and joy, excitement, and sorrow bound up in the same heart, and at the same time. And it is such times as these that afford a tremendous opportunity to bring into the sharpest of focus some fundamental biblical principles which speak very definitely and very specifically to our present situation as a people of God. And if you have any acquaintance with your Bibles, you are fully aware of the fact that many portions, particularly in the New Testament, arise out of the historical situation in which the various churches found themselves. And God's truth was always coming through the apostolic writings, speaking to specific churches in times of specific need and crisis. And so what I wish to do this morning, and again next Lord's Day morning, God willing, is to direct your attention to a portion of the word of God which I trust will be used of God in drawing our hearts together, particularly now, Pastor and Mrs. Blaise, as they leave us, and our hearts as a fellowship of God's people,

3:47 that by means of the exposition of this particular passage, we may be drawn together into a very clear understanding of what it is that God is doing, and what aspects of his truth ought constantly to be held before our minds and hearts as we will share together in the fellowship of the Gospel as our brother leaves us to establish a work in East London. The passage to which I refer is an Old Testament passage, a very familiar passage to those of you who have been within the framework of the Christian Church any period of time at all, but I believe a passage which is perhaps more familiar in its external form and wording than in its essential message. And I am referring to the record of Isaiah's call in the sixth chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah's Vision: God's Self-Revelation

4:51 And will you make an effort to listen as I read this portion of God's word, listening as though you had never heard it before. So, this record of the strange way in which God laid his hand upon this man Isaiah and set him apart to the work of the prophetic office. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train, that is his royal garments, filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim.

5:30 The bridegroom. The burning ones. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.

5:41 And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried. And the house was filled with smoke.

6:00 Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, and he touched my mouth with it. A live coal. You kids, you see those burning charcoal briquettes in your backyard when dad or mom is cooking hamburgers on the 4th of July.

6:43 If you've ever touched one of those, you know what it feels like. Here the seraphim takes with tongs one of those coals, and in this vision touches the mouth, the most sensitive tissues in the human body, the lips, touches the lips with it, and says, Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me.

7:17 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste, and the Lord have removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land, And if there yet be a tenth in it, it shall in turn be eaten up as a terebinth and as an oak, whose stalk remaineth when they are felled. So the holy seed is the stalk thereof.

8:20 Now in coming to a study of a portion such as the one that I have read in your hearing, I trust all of you are aware that there are certain elements in this account of Isaiah's call to the prophetic office which are exclusive to that period of special revelation. There are things in this passage that we dare not expect to be repeated in this day when God no longer is acting in a way of direct revelation. There are things peculiar to that period of the history of redemption in general, and certainly things peculiar to God's dealings with Isaiah in the history of the world. In particular, no prophet received a call identical to that of Isaiah. And though the prophets were called by direct revelation, the channel of that revelation was different in each case. But what God did in this unusual vision given to Isaiah was to reveal certain things about himself as Isaiah's God, certain things about Isaiah, the man, and certain things about his mission and the people to whom he was sent, which things are just as applicable today as they were in Isaiah's day. In other words,

9:49 it is not the vision which we expect to be reproduced, but we come to the vision convinced it is part of Scripture that is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction, and seeking to extract, to feel its reproof, its correction, and instruction. We look to the same Spirit who gave this direct revelation to take the truth contained in the record and to apply it with our hearts with power, producing in us what it produced in the prophet, so that though the method of God is different, the end should be identical. For in a very real sense, this vision given to Isaiah formed the very atmosphere and ethos of the ministry of the prophet. I will further assert that the prophet Isaiah's ministry was simply an extension and a continuous commentary upon the principles embodied in this vision given to him at his call. And it is the substructure of essential and eternal truth that we wish by the Spirit's help to glean from the passage, trusting that God by the Spirit will make these things

The Sender: God's Foundational Truths

11:14 the very atmosphere of the ministry to which God has called our brother, and in which we will be involved by our prayerful concern and by the support of our substance in the coming months and years. May I suggest that the vision breaks down into three major keys, categories of concern. First of all, the foundational truths which God revealed about Himself as the Sending One. Then secondly, and this will wait till next week, points two and three, foundational truths about His servant, the Sent One, and foundational truths about the people to whom the prophet is sent. So the vision then has three major strands, the strands of ingredients, the revelation of God the Sender, the revelation of Isaiah the Sent, and the revelation of the people to whom the Sender sends the prophet. This morning our attention will be focused exclusively upon the first category. What foundational truths about Himself was God concerned to reveal to the prophet Isaiah?

12:33 One perceptive man of God has said that the most significant thing about any man or woman is his or her view of God. If I were to zero in upon the one thing that is most telling in terms of what you are as a human being, how you act, how you think, what you do, what you don't do, how you react, the most fundamental thing in determining the whole color and flavor of your life is your view of God. Nothing is more influential in our thoughts, in our actions, in the total lifestyle that characterizes us as individuals than our view of God. And God Himself knew that principle. And so His concern when He lays His hand upon this man, Isaiah, is first of all to give to the man not a sight of himself, nor a sight of the people to whom he has sent, their need, and everything that surrounds that group of people, nor is it to articulate the message he is to preach. The first thing God does is to give to this prophet

13:57 a shattering and undoing, yet blessed experience of a vision of himself. Notice where the vision begins. In the year that King Isaiah died, I saw the Lord. As he reflects upon this vision, he does not say, I heard a voice, I received a commission, I was given directions.

14:30 He said in the year that King Isaiah died, I saw the Lord. And most fundamental to this entire vision is this revelation which God gave of Himself to the prophet. And I would remind you that the Lord whom Isaiah saw is none other than the God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. For in John 12 and verse 41 we read this commentary upon this very passage, These things spake Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him.

15:10 This is a vision of the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Word who has always been and ever shall be the medium of God's revelation to men. For no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared. Him.

15:34 And so the God revealed is the God who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me suggest that there are at least five fundamental things that God reveals about Himself to His prophet. Five essential aspects of His being and His ways which the prophet must not only hold in suspension in some kind of intellectual understanding, but they must become the very five essential things that are characteristic of God in this vision. The first is that He is a servant of the living God.

God's Absolute Sovereignty and Unrivaled Supremacy

16:09 And if we are to be bound together in a ministry that is truly biblical, as our brother and his wife leave us, and as we are identified with that ministry of the gospel in East London, let me suggest that the five things that are characteristic of God in this vision must mutually be the sum and substance of our perspective of our God. First of all, God reveals Himself to His prophet as the God of absolute sovereignty and unrivaled supremacy. And some of you kids say, Oh, there goes the preacher using big words. Now wait a minute.

16:50 Don't I always explain them if they're unusually big ones? And frankly, I am appalled at the limited vocabulary of the average adult American. It is a shame. With the rich heritage of the English language, we ought to get beyond using third-grade vocabulary.

17:09 Now, after that little aside, this vision reveals God as the God of absolute sovereignty. And I use the word absolute in the sense of the third meaning in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, not limited by constitution. When you talk about an absolute monarch, you mean a monarch that doesn't have to consider or consult with anyone, not even his wife, when he wants to do what he wants to do. An absolute monarch is a man whose will is supreme in the exercise of authority.

17:44 Now, in this vision, God reveals Himself to Isaiah as the God of absolute. That is, no one is there to counsel Him, no one there to cancel His decisions. And He is revealed as a God of absolute sovereignty, and sovereignty simply means supreme in power and authority, the right to rule and to administer. Therefore, the vision we have of God is one of absolute sovereignty and unrivaled supremacy.

18:19 He has no rival. He has no one who stands with Him in that posture of absolute sovereignty. Now, where do we see that in the vision? Well, look carefully at the text.

18:30 In the year that King Isaiah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, that's the place of His dwelling, high and lifted up, that's His position with reference to all that is about Him, and His train, that is the skirts of His royal robes, filled the temple, none was standing near Him, and in verse 5 He says, Mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah, of hosts. And I suggest that those four things, like the rays of the sun passing through a magnifying glass that are all then pointed on that one spot where those rays will burn, these four lines of biblical light all converge upon this one fundamental principle, impressing the mind and the spirit of the prophet with this tremendous truth at the very outset of His commission, the God in whose name you go, My servant Isaiah, is the God of absolute sovereignty and unrivaled supremacy. Let's look at those things very briefly, each in the order that they come before us. I saw the Lord sitting

19:57 upon a throne. The throne is the symbol of rule and of government, now listen carefully, rule and government in administration. You see, the king still is the ruler when he's in his bedroom, but it is not in his bedroom that he exercises his royal prerogatives and his regal rights. The king is a king when he's out on his boat, in his private lake fishing, but it's not from his boat catching fish that he administers his rights as king, but when with all of his entourage and accompaniment and the blowing of the trumpets he comes and ascends his throne, everyone knows he is in that place from which government is exercised and administered. And the vision that Isaiah receives of his Lord is that of the Lord who is seated upon the throne, who is in the place and posture not only of inherent right to rule, but in the present exercise of that rule. It is on a throne that the Lord sits to rule, to administer his government. And then secondly, he sees him high and lifted up.

21:25 You see, high and lifted up is a description of what one thing is in reference to another. Right now, I am high and lifted up. In relationship to you, I'm 18 inches higher. But in relationship to the ants that are crawling down the driveway here, you are high and lifted up.

21:45 You're about eight feet above them. And in relationship to the worms that are beneath the flower beds, even the ants are high and lifted up. Now you see how the term is a term of relationships? I am high and lifted up compared to where you are.

22:01 You are high and lifted up compared to where the ants are. And the ants are high and lifted up compared to where the worms are. But as Isaiah sees this vision of God, a vision that involves seraphim, or cherubim, seraphim, I'm sorry, I always get them mixed up unless I look at the text. Seraphim, a vision that involves the voice of God in these strange happenings.

22:23 One thing grips him, that the Lord who is upon a throne is the exalted Lord upon an exalted throne. It is this position of exaltation and unrivaled supremacy, high above all else. And then, as it were, to emphasize that more fully, it says, his train, that is, the skirts of his royal robe, fill the temple, for no man would dare step upon the royal robes of a king. You know how careful we are at weddings, that no one step upon the train of the bride.

22:59 And the bride's made very carefully when she turns to walk out, flutters it all out, and gets it behind her, because it's an insult to her person to trample upon that which is an extension of her bridal beauty. And Isaiah says, when I saw the Lord, I not only saw a throne, and this personage upon the throne, lifted up above all else in his presence, but his royal garments, filled the entirety of the temple. There was none standing opposite him as his equal, none standing before him to barter. He was there in the beauty of his exclusiveness as the one true and living sovereign of heaven and of earth. And how desperately did the prophet need to understand this first aspect of the vision. For when good king Isaiah died, this was the beginning of the end for everything good in Israel. From this point on the theocracy, that is the state of Israel as a nation with peculiar privileges and peculiar presence of God, the theocracy began to crumble, a crumbling which never fully recovered until that nation after, or at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, was scattered amongst the nations of the earth.

24:27 Isaiah had to prophesy at the time when the Assyrian and Babylonian nations were being raised up by God to be a scourge to Israel. What does he need to know? He needs to know that Assyria is not king. Babylon is not king.

24:43 The Lord is upon the throne. And therefore when you read the book of the prophet Isaiah, you read some of the most graphic and beautiful poetic imagery. God hisses for a nation. He likens them to a bunch of insects.

24:56 And he says I'll hiss for them and I'll call them and tell them to do my bidding. And you turn to the 40th chapter and he says the nations, Assyria, Babylon, are like the little sweat drop on the side of a bucket on a hot day in the middle of the summer. Not nations are as a drop in a bucket, they are as a drop of a bucket. The little sweat drops, the condensation, mighty Assyria, mighty Babylon, what are they?

25:21 Little drops on the side of a bucket. The nations of the earth, Assyria, Babylon, and all their armed might. What are they? Like a bunch of little grasshoppers he says in that 40th chapter.

25:32 Where'd he get such a vision? I tell you, he got it right here. When God called that man, he stamped upon his spirit. He fused into his understanding this tremendous concept that the God in whose name he preaches is the God of absolute sovereignty, the God of unrivaled supremacy.

25:55 Furthermore, when the words are heard, who will go? Isaiah does not interpret these as the words of a whimpering impotent God, the words of fawning weakness. No, no, he regards them as the words of gracious and condescending omnipotence. It's the God upon a throne, high and lifted up.

26:17 It's the God whose skirts fill the temple who says, who will go? Can you imagine Isaiah ever thinking that he had to run to help that poor God who was sort of getting frustrated holding everything together? You see, often this passage is rested to become, as it were, a lever upon emotionally unstable teenagers to get them to respond to a, quote, call to the mission field. The picture of some weak and fawning God who is crippled in his weakness and who can't get his work done.

26:49 Won't you come to help him? Not so, Isaiah. I saw the Lord high, lifted up, seated upon a throne, and his royals filled the temple in the year that a good and godly king died. I saw the true king, Jehovah of hosts, leader and commander of all the armies of heaven, all of the angelic hosts.

27:13 That's the significance of that description of God as Jehovah of hosts. And he comes to understand that this God is the God who commissions him. Therefore, when God lays upon him, a terribly difficult mission. Imagine.

27:31 It's one thing to labor for a lifetime and look back and say, God didn't give me much success. You could always labor in the hope of it. But at the outset, God says, Look, you know what your message is going to be? One of judgment, one of condemnation.

27:42 You're going to keep on preaching till their ears get harder and harder. You're going to keep on preaching till their hearts get fatter and fatter. But what does he say? Lord, how long?

27:52 If you're the high and exalted one seated upon a throne, I cannot argue with you. I cannot bicker with you. Yours is to command. Mine is to obey.

28:05 And I say very seriously to you, my beloved brother in the gospel, as you leave us to go to that veritable Sodom of East London, you will meet, as I know you anticipate, men, even Christian brethren, who will find the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty and unrivaled supremacy of God the occasion of railing, of maligning, constantly bringing up unbiblical caricatures, that you will find that this doctrine will be the sheet anchor to your soul. To know that the God who commissions you is the one who says in the person of his Son, All authority hath been delivered unto me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, make disciples, and in the midst of men's opposition, in the midst of hardness, in the midst of apparent unfruitfulness, to have this stamped upon the Spirit. He has all authority in heaven and in earth, and I go in the name of such a sovereign. And I say this is what will give to us as a congregation persistence in prayer, dogged persistence as we plead with God for the blessings of His grace and of His Spirit upon our brother as he goes to labor

God's Transcendent Majesty and Burning Purity

29:31 in that needy area of God's vineyard. Let us never forget what Isaiah never forgot, that the God whom we serve is the God of absolute sovereignty and unrivaled supremacy. But then in the second place, God revealed something else about Himself to His prophet, and it was this, that He was the God of transcendent majesty and burning purity. Transcendent, something that is above us, beyond us, outside of us.

30:06 He is the God of transcendent majesty. Whatever Isaiah knew of majesty as he apparently had social intercourse with the court of Isaiah the king, he now was struck with a majesty that went far beyond anything he had ever seen or experienced in his association with human royalty. It was transcendent, that which went beyond any majesty ever known before. His God was the God of transcendent majesty and of burning purity.

30:41 And where do we come to understand that? Look at verse 2. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings.

30:51 These burning ones. Volumes have been written about these seraphim. What were they? What is their distinct mission?

30:59 What is their peculiar function? Well, we don't know too much, but I believe we can glean enough to know their significance here. Each one had six wings. Two wings, the face is covered.

31:13 Here are these creatures who are not involved in that tragic deflection in Adam. They are not part of Adam's race. They are part of that race of the elect angelic beings. And yet, two wings cover their faces as they are near this throne where God reveals His glory.

31:34 With another two wings, they cover their feet. Feet, the object with which their errands are accomplished. But there is such a sense that God is beyond them and above them that they cover their feet. The face, that with which they see and are looked upon.

31:55 Feet, that with which they accomplish the designs of God. And then with two of those wings they fly. The picture of a sanctified restlessness that cannot stay too long in close proximity to that great majestic being that sits upon the throne. And then we read that one cried to another, Holy, Holy, Holy is Jehovah of hosts.

32:22 How many seraphim were there? We do not know. There were at least two. One cried unto the other, and there is this antiphonal chant, Holy, Holy, Holy is Jehovah of hosts, the King, the Lord upon the throne whom Isaiah sees in this vision.

32:38 And then they declare that the earth is the fullness of His glory or the whole earth is full of His glory. Either translation warranted by the language. And then a strange thing happens. The foundations of the thresholds actually shake when one of these is crossed one side to the other and suddenly the whole temple from this dazzling brilliant glory is filled with smoke.

33:05 Have you ever been in a room filled with smoke? Your eyes burn and you know somewhere there is fire. And when the prophets were caught up in these visions often they experienced in the vision just like in a dream when you are being chased by some mad bull in a dream. I tell you that is real to you.

33:22 You wake up in a cold sweat and find that you are safely in your bed. But I tell you while you were still in that dream it was real. And it was similar for these prophets when they were caught up in these visions they experienced these things in the transport of the vision in the apocalyptic experience. And can you imagine when Isaiah is there and suddenly the very foundations of the thresholds he seems to be standing as it were at the very opening of this throne room filled with the train, the skirts of the exalted Lord upon the throne and the very foundation begins to shake and suddenly the room is full of smoke.

33:56 The room is full of smoke. Now what is all of this? May I suggest that comparing scripture with scripture there is a clear indication that what God was doing here was impressing upon the mind and the spirit and I keep joining those two things upon the mind and the spirit upon the noetic, the understanding and upon the essence of his inner life where truth must take hold of us that his God was the God of transcendent majesty and of burning purity. The one who sat upon that throne was the Holy One of Israel and so fundamental was this revelation of God's burning holiness to Isaiah that this very phrase the Holy One of Israel became common currency in the preaching of Isaiah. He uses it 26 times in the book of Isaiah and it is found only six other times in the entire Old Testament. And as though God anticipated these crazy people that talk about two different Isaiahs Isaiah uses it 12 times in the first 39 chapters and 14 times in chapters 40 to 66 it becomes as it were the Isianic stamp upon the authorship of his book the God whom he preaches in judgment in the first 39 chapters

35:25 the God whom he preaches primarily in mercy in the last chapters is the Holy One of Israel the God whom he saw in that vision at the very threshold of his ministry. You see God knows if his prophet is to walk with him and no man is a true servant of Christ as his mouthpiece who does not first of all walk with him as his child and his servant the prophet must know the necessity of being cleansed from his own sin. He must know that if he is to be an instrument to bring that remnant that we read about in the latter part of the chapter into fellowship with God they too must be cleansed and made holy and in a sense this whole strand of Isaiah's preaching is caught up and brought together in one little bundle in chapter 57 and verse 15 look at it I believe it is a direct reference to the vision when Isaiah proclaims in this text Isaiah 57 15 Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity the High and the Lofty One I saw the Lord high and lifted up he inhabits eternity whose name is Holy I remember the chanting the antiphonal chant of these seraphim Holy, Holy, Holy I remember the room full of smoke

36:52 the shaking threshold the pain of self disclosure Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabits eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite What is humility? It's the creature taking full awareness of his creatureliness in the presence of transcendent majesty and what is contrition? It's the sinner taking to heart his sinfulness in the presence of burning holiness and so when he saw him in his transcendent majesty and burning holiness he says so majestic a being is God and I am but creature so glorious and holy a being is so utterly unlike what I am and so humility is not and contrition are the reflexive responses of the heart that has the vision of the God that is and so my beloved brother as God sends you forth to labor there in East London may he ever keep before your eyes

38:16 that the God before whom you walk is the God who will not hold communion with the defiled but will hold communion only with those who walk in holiness before him and I solemnly charge you my beloved brother as I know you would me if I were where you are this morning and you are where I am never to forget that your greatest responsibility amidst all the labors of that work is the nurture and the cultivation of your own walk in the presence of God he is the God of transcendent majesty of burning purity and holiness and this is why the cross of Christ must be central to your ministry for it is the cross alone which answers the dilemma how shall this holy being have communion with unholy creatures and you remember that in Isaiah's case there was the introduction of that which had distinct reference to the altar it was a call from the altar there was sacrifice there was expiation and this must be brought home to the heart and to the lips of the man of God who would speak in the name of that God he is the God of burning purity and holiness the God of transcendent majesty ah but someone says

39:42 those were the sharp bold ragged jagged lines of the Old Testament Christ has come and smoothed all of that over my friend nothing could be further from the truth the full revelation of God in Jesus Christ has brought into sharper relief than anything ever revealed in the Old Testament that God is the God of burning holiness you say there's something more vivid than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to show that God is holy yes something more vivid than the flood yes for this was a holy God dealing with unholy men but in the cross of his own dear son here is the holy God of the universe dealing with the only holy man who ever lived and the scripture says he spared not his own son and Calvary is the clearest the most vivid demonstration of the burning holiness of God ever made to the sons of men upon the face of this earth when almighty God shrouded the heavens in that terrible darkness and plunged the soul of his son into the abyss of inward darkness God was saying I'm still the Lord who sits upon a throne and before me there is the acknowledgement that I am essentially and eternally and spotlessly holy no sin shall stand before me

God's Manifested Glory

41:10 then in the third place the prophet must not only understand that God is the God of absolute sovereignty the God of burning holiness and purity but he is the God of manifested glory listen to this strange cry in verse 3 and one cried unto another and said holy holy holy is Jehovah of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory or as you have the marginal reading in the ASV the whole earth or the fullness of the whole earth is his glory now without trying to debate and to discuss and to resolve the problem which is the proper way to render the words this much is clear that the seraphim are acknowledging a tremendous truth that this God who is revealed to Isaiah in this temple situation whether again it was the setting of the temple of worship or whether it was the court of the dwelling place of the king we don't know in the Hebrew the word for temple and palace is the same so we don't know precisely where it was but one thing is clear this God does not confine the revelation of himself to that inner sanctuary be it the temple or be it the palace these creatures cry one to another

42:38 and say what God is in himself before our eyes and before the eyes of the prophet he is in the midst of the whole earth the whole earth is full of his glory or the fullness of the whole earth is his glory what are they saying? they are saying this God has revealed himself for the glory of Jesus for the glory of God is the manifestation of what God is in himself the rays of the sun that we now see upon the trees outside this building are the manifestation of the essential light and heat of the sun the glory of God is the manifestation of what God is and the scriptures make abundantly clear that God has revealed himself to his creatures he has revealed himself upon his world Romans 1 and 2 speak of this Acts 14 and Acts 17 this God has not hidden himself from his creatures but the whole earth is full of his glory Psalm 19 the heavens declare his glory and the firmament showeth his handiwork there is the revelation of God in creation there is the revelation of God in the conscience of all of his creatures Romans chapters 1 and 2 now why does the prophet need to know this? what in the world does this have to do

44:04 with fitting a man to preach? ah listen carefully he is going to preach to a sinning nation a nation that is ripening for judgment and what he must know when he thus preaches is that he has an ally within the bosom of the most hardened Israelite to whom he must preach judgment Isaiah when you go to preach that Israel's God is to bring judgment for her sin you do not preach in a vacuum you preach into the ears and into the hearts of people who've seen my glory not alone my glory in redemptive history in bringing them out of Egypt and establishing them in the land but who when they look out they know that the silly little things that they've made and call their gods did not bring the heavens and the earth into being they know when they look at my handiwork that when they bow down to Baal and to Ashtaroth they are not bowing down to a true God Isaiah my servant listen never be embarrassed never be fearful when you thunder out my word you have an ally in the bosom of every man to whom you preach his conscience affirms that an idol is nothing his own conscience affirms that this that he worships is no true God when you summon them to repentance Isaiah remember

45:32 you're calling to repentance creatures made in my image made in my image to know me made to recognize my glory and delightfully to reflect it Isaiah you're not alone and I tell you it gives me great joy in preaching to know that no matter how anyone may sit in this building this morning upstairs or downstairs and gnash upon the message with your teeth I've got an ally in your bosom that when you hear the word of God objectively proclaimed there is a subjective response that says Amen it's true now you may put it down you may try to shove it out of there but it's there their conscience is accusing or excusing someone say you're teaching free will to spark a divinity no I'm teaching that man is not beast and until he has seared his conscience and been abandoned by God and committed the sin against God against the Holy Ghost whatever it is there is the answer in his breast to the truth of the word of God and when I tell you you're a sinner when I tell you you've offended God deep within your breast there's an answer it's true and when I tell you God cannot be found by your own devising and God's favor cannot be earned by your own efforts that you must flee to Christ and abandon yourself to Christ

47:00 there is an answer within your own breast and oh how Isaiah needed to know this as he looked out over Israel there was not much there was not much of glory the days of her glory were passed at the peak of her success under Solomon when the queen of Sheba comes and Tyre and the kings of Tyre and Sidon and the other places come and the glory of God was evidently manifested throughout the whole world through Israel might be easy to believe the whole earth is full of his glory but God says right now Isaiah going to preach to a nation slated for judgment the earth is still full of my glory I've left my stamp of and so when Isaiah takes off as he does in chapter 40 and mocks the folly of idolatry in the bosom of every person there's the acknowledgement it's true it's true he says now look you go out there and grab a hunk of wood you take half of it and you go home and build your fire and then while your fire's warming you you take the other half and you make yourself a little god now isn't that smart that's a paraphrase but that's exactly what he says now isn't that smart isn't that smart my friend listen you know that the gods that you've made and worshipped are no true gods whether it's the god of your own head your own notions about life your own philosophy of life it's full of stupidity and emptiness and you know it is and the only reason you hold to is because it still gives you an excuse

48:27 to go on doing what you want to do because you love your sin that's the only reason that which may be known of god is manifest but you hold it down in unrighteousness because you love your sin you don't have intellectual problems you've got moral problems the moral problem is your rebellion against god it's amazing how the moment that's subdued why the truth of the gospel is the most reasonable thing in all the world and my dear brother Ashiel as god sends you forth into that land that once blazed with gospel glory but has degenerated into a veritable solid and may god give you great joy in the knowledge that he's manifested his glory in the midst of east London and when you stand to preach be it in a hired hall be it by a lamp post in the open air to know that god's revealed himself to those people and they cannot escape the reality of their maker's claims upon them and may he give you such boldness and confidence in that knowledge that you will be by his grace a fearless proclaimer of the truth of the whole counsel of god and then oh my time is gone we've only covered the three points and it's a warm day

God's Forgiving Grace and Condescending Purpose

49:55 let me just give you the heads and maybe we'll flesh them out next week he's the god of forgiving grace verses six and seven shattered by this revelation of god impotent to change himself suddenly look at the divine initiative then flew one of the seraphim unto me god takes the initiative and he touched my mouth and said this hath touched thy lips thine iniquity is taken away thy sin is expiated not a word about what Isaiah did it's all a word about what god did and god is saying Isaiah I am not only the god of absolute sovereignty the god of transcendent majesty the god of manifested glory but I'm the god of forgiving and pardoning mercy and he comes to his servant and purges away his sin cleanses him and grants to that heart shattered by the revelation of divine glory the sweetness of reconciliation and forgiveness and there's a sense in which I say it metaphorically from that moment on Isaiah preached with the scab upon his lips you see the man who's been shattered by the sight of his own sin

51:21 and known the gracious forgiveness of god is a man whose preaching will have a peculiar winsomeness about it for he is no self-righteous preacher of Moses who says I've attained come and join me but who says I am what I am by the grace of god and that grace is sincerely offered to all in Jesus Christ you see there's nothing like the fragrance that comes to the ministry of a man who's felt the coal upon his lips you see forgiveness is both painful and sweet at the same time it's painful because forgiveness is always couched in the context of felt and that's never sweet Isaiah said I'm undone and he wasn't being poetic what I've seen is what I've seen is shattered me there's nothing left woes me I'm undone with my nation full of sin then flew a seraph then flew a seraph may god grant to you my beloved brother ever to have upon your ministry

52:49 the fragrance that always comes from the sense of fresh forgiveness the pain of discovery the blessedness of god's pardoning mercy and then we'll pick up the other thought god willing next week I'll just give you the point he's the god of condescending purpose no sooner does he take his servant into communion with himself in forgiveness then he lets him in on his secret he has a purpose whom shall I send and who will go for us and this majestic almighty sovereign transcendent holy forgiving god does an amazing thing he stoops to incorporate into his sovereign purposes the efforts of a redeemed sinner and that's one of the most amazing things in all the world and that forms the background of the ministry of this great man Isaiah and I suggest that these are the perspectives that we need desperately to have before our eyes that our brother needs constantly to have before him as he leaves us may the lord continue in his own mercy to open up the word burn it into our hearts that we may in this new venture of the gospel be bound together in a fellowship of similar

54:17 perspectives on the work of god that under god's blessing will result in the tearing down of the strongholds of satan and the establishment of god's own name as he brings into being a vigorous church for his glory there let us pray